Kathleen Ryan: Blog

Way back when I was getting ready to record my first CD, a handfull of quietness, I had nearly an hour of music planned and practiced, and a memorable title for the CD. There was no title song, however. I wasn't really planning a title song, to tell the truth. "A handfull of quietness" was the album title, I wasn't concerned about having a title song.

Phyllis disagreed. (Phyllis who tells me what to do, & I think I do it, too; & she doesn't!) She felt the CD wasn't ready until I had a piano piece called A Handfull of Quietness.

Ten days before I was going into the studio to record, a mere week before I was going to perform all the music preparatory to recording, I played through all the music and for the first time ever, at the end I felt that the CD was incomplete. Hmmm ... not really what I want to feel seven days before a performance and ten days before recording.

I sat. I listened. I started playing piano. I played A Handfull of Quietness. And that was it. Sweet, beautifully voiced, simple, and satisfying. It came through clear as a bell on the first playing, and I played it several more times to make sure I'd remember.

And just like that, the CD was complete.

(Yes, I would love if it were that easy every time. But I also love the ones I really work for. Every child is unique!)

Recently Keith performed Verbs, Book 1 (which I’m sure you remember I wrote for him) here. We had a lovely audience, more than 40 folks crammed into my studio and living room. Afterward, over cookies and punch, I was asked how I compose.

Where do I get my ideas?
Is is spontaneous, improvisatory?
Do I sketch out ideas?
How do I know when a piece is done?
Do I have a process?

Answers:
I don’t know.
Yes.
Yes.
I wish I knew. Usually I keep going until it “sounds right”.
Yes: keep going.

I usually have a sense of what I’m trying to bring into being. Some sounds, or an idea, or a mood, or less often just a decision that I want to write something in 3/4, or in Eb major.

I most often will play piano at least some to get going. If it’s a piece for me, very often the entire piece is created by trying out sounds on the instrument. I’ll write down parts that seem either likely to be forgotten (some significant sparkly detail, or some unusual series of harmonies) or too hard to remember until well-practiced.

For Keith’s pieces, significant amounts have been composed away from the piano. Usually I sit on the banco, with a view of the birds and the mesa, with iced tea (creativity stimulant of choice), and manuscript paper, and pencil, AND ERASER! I listen to the sounds in my head and I write. I’ll only use the piano to check that I wrote it down correctly.

And then, of course, sometimes I just ask what the piece sounds like—and the music tells me. The highest experience I know.

Details on another occasion.

Last year my friend Keith Snell, who is just a wonderful pianist, requested that I compose a set of preludes for left-hand alone for him. I've written 12 (of 24 total) and the music is called Verbs. Each piece is a portrayal of a different verb (wow -- bet I surprised you with that one!). The 12 Verbs in the first set are: Wait, Begin, Crackle, Weave, Fling, Drift, Play, Accuse, Push, Forgive, Zoom, and Close.

This is my first project composing for another pianist, and I'm thrilled that Keith is premiering Verbs next week, Friday night, November 9th, at the Professional Music Teachers of New Mexico state conference in Farmington. (If you are in the area, the cost is only $10 for a fantastic evening of music.)

And even more, I'm thrilled that Keith likes the music I've written for him. We'll be searching for a publisher (I'm working on editing the score now) and of course -- I have 12 more to compose!

Grace & peace to you,
Kathleen

My Christmas album, The Rebirth of Light has been released and is receiving very positive reviews.

It's October. Don't you think it's time to consider that yearly vexing question of what to get your zillions of friends for Christmas? And don't you think they'd really appreciate some music that helps them tune into the spirituality of the season? Music with both tranquillity and power?

Which you can wrap and mail really easily?

The Rebirth of Light is available at CDBaby.com.

Just sayin'...

Grace and peace to you,
Kathleen

So here's something crazy to consider. I've worked out what I would be paid for playing some of my pieces if I were paid a penny a note. (I headed this direction after Christian Calcatelli, one of our Whisperings artists, suggested -- tongue-firmly-in-cheek -- $1 a note for performances! We should all be so lucky; you'll see why in just a sec.)

I decided to do the math on "Something Water, Something Light," because, after all, it has lots of notes! Lots and lots of notes. My estimate is 2378. That's two thousand! three hundred! seventy-eight! Who knew!? Which, of course, adds up to $23.78, if I'm being paid by the note.

Here's the fun part: it lasts 2:38. One hundred! fifty-eight! seconds.

Just over 15 notes per second, on average.

Not that music making is about notes per second, of course. But I'm liking this "penny per note" idea more every...second.

Not all of my pieces are quite so note filled. Let's say I average 8 notes a second. Let's say I talk for a full 10 minutes of every hour of playing, and take a 15 minute intermission. Let's say my concert runs 2 hours total. So I've played for a total of 88 minutes, at 8 cents every second.

$422.40. Clearly a dollar a note is better. But I'll take the penny a note. I can always program music that has more notes! Talk less. Skip intermission. Whatever.

There it is, folks. For $422.40 (plus tax, travel, and a glass of iced tea) I will play your venue. Happily. Just look out for those flying 16th notes! I expect to be compensated for every one.

PS: The Rebirth of Light will be recorded this month and released in June. Now that we have solved the recording studio issues, we'll be recording Drivin! in April and Under the Greenwood Tree in September. Stay tuned for notices of release parties.

Grace & peace to you,
Kathleen